Wireframing is key to successful and efficient UX development for modern Web and Mobile applications

Mockup and wireframing tools make the process of creating a cloud computing based SaaS app or website easy — allowing you to visually strip a product down to its bare bones and focus solely on function and user interactivity. Mockups and wireframes are important tools for communicating a prototype’s usability and functionality to clients, providing a streamlined, uncluttered visual to supplement verbalized ideas and designs.

With the explosion of mobile applications and cloud computing there are more wireframing tools on the market than ever, each offering differing levels of functionality. Some software can be used to create simple wireframes, while more advanced tools allow you to build a complete working prototype. The following 29 mockup and wireframing tools are listed in no particular order of importance, but represent the most advanced and easy-to-use tools available, with all of the features and functionality you need to get the job done.

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3.MockFlowMockFlow is a full-featured wireframe software to design, collaborate user interface mockups for software and websites. An extensive set of editor functions, vast library of mockup components, icons and more, publishing capabilities and more, MockFlow is a comprehensive tool for any developer.

Key Features:

Work online or off with this hybrid program

Easy-to-use and sophisticated interface

Presentation mode to test wireframe interactions

Multiple master-page capabilities to avoid reworks

Built-in version history, check-in, check-out mockup revisions

Large library of mockup components

MockStore for extra elements & templates

Real-time design collaboration with team chat and built-in annotation options

Lumzy is a quick prototyping and mockup tool for software designers and developers. As a mockup tool, you can use it to create a rough sketch of how the final website or application will look. Create a working simulation of your final product that your clients can actually interact with before moving on to the final development phase.

Key Features:

Simple drag-and-drop functionality

Extensive component library

Easy sharing capabilities for client-team collaboration

Cost:

Sampler (10 tokens for $5)

Starter pack (30 tokens for $10)

Basic pack (50 tokens for $15)

Professional pack (95 tokens for $25)

5. Mockup BuilderMockup Builder is a prototyping solution that helps design software or websites while reducing the time and cost spent on the negotiation stage.

Appery.io is the first mobile platform that offers a cloud-based rapid development environment integrated with back-end services and a rich catalog of API plug-ins that dramatically simplify integration with cloud services and enterprise systems.

Out-of-the-box API Plug-ins to services such as Salesforce.com, Aetna CarePass, ESPN, AT&T and more

iOS and Android Binary build

Cost:

Basic – $30 a month

Standard – Starting at $30 a month

Pro – Starting at $57 a month

Team – Starting at $135 a month

7. Frame BoxFrame Box is an incredibly simple frame-sharing application. This tool is browser-based and fantastic for creating resizable, easily adjustable wireframes on the fly.

Key Features:

Drag-and-drop layout system

Sketch-view, preview and edit modes

Built-in components to quickly create rough mockups

Generate a link for automatic sharing and collaboration

Read-only capability

Cost:

Free

8. Iphone MockupLukas Mathis is a software engineer and user interface designer for the Swiss software company Numcom software. Mathis has created a number of online tools for UI design, among them iphonemockup,lkmc.ch, a collaborative UI mockup designer.

Fluid UI is a simple, user friendly, web-based design tool for prototyping mobile applications and enables you to easily create and test a working prototype within minutes.

Key Features:

Create low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes

Drag and drop interface with built in libraries to add pages, widgets, links and transitions

Ability to upload your own images

Save design patterns for re-use

No coding required

Preview and test prototypes on your mobile

Shareable online for quick feedback

Cost:

Free Forever

Pay Monthly – Starting at $12 per month

Pay Yearly – Starting at $120 per year

10. PencilProjectPencil is an open-source GUI prototyping tool allowing developers to create mockups in popular desktop platforms. This on-premise tool is easy to download and allows for both online and offline use.

Key Features:

Easy GUI prototyping

Built-in shapes and components

Diagram=drawing support

Easy exporting to various formats

Inter-page linking

Cost:

Free

11. NinjaMockNinjaMock offers a complete toolbox containing typical controls used in app and web design that you can use to quickly prototype apps for mobile devices, allowing you to create everything from simple wireframes to more advanced screen flows.

Key Features:

Wireframe editor with a library of icons and images

Real time team collaboration for internal/external members

Option to create projects and folders with varying user permissions

Cost:

Personal – Free

Pro – $15 per month

ProPlus – $25 per month

12. DUB-DENIMThis is a system that helps web designers in the early stages of design. This tool has recently been updated to include PC tablet support and enhanced features. Downloadable and compatible with Windows, Unix, and Mac OSX.

14. iPlotzCreate clickable, navigable mockups and wireframes for prototyping websites and software applications with iPlotz. You can invite others to comment on the designs, and once ready, use built-in project management features to assign tasks and monitor development.

Key Features:

Works on Windows, Mac or Linux with flash enabled browsers

Drag and drop components onto a resizable page

Imbed links to other files or external web pages

Easy drag-and-drop functionality

Multiple export options

Seamless collaboration with interactive commenting and editing rights

Built-in project task management

Cost:

Free

Single User – $15 per month

Multi User – $295 per year for five users

Desktop – $75 perpetual

15. GliffyGliffy makes creating professional-quality flowcharts and diagrams simple, intuiteively helping you turn complex information into attractive images everyone can understand. It works directly in your browser, so there’s no software to download.

Create a variety of diagrams with ease with Cacoo, a product of nulab. Site maps, flowcharts, mind maps, wire frames, UML diagrams and network diagrams are all streamline and simple to produce using Cacoo’s real-time collaboration mockup platform.

18. MockabillyMockabilly is an iPhone app prototyping tool for creating mockups in a few minutes. Create high-fidelity non-linear mockups with genuine iPhone behavior for the optimal mockup and usability testing experience.

Key Features:

Instant play mode to test your mockup – no deployment

Easily sync or upload designed screens

Create non-linear flows with touchpoints

Easily switch between edit and play modes

Cost:

Lite Version – Free

Full Version – $6.99

19. FlairBuilderCreative interactive wireframes for both websites and mobile applications with FlairBuilder. This prototyping tool provides seamless feedback tools for easy collaboration with both team members and stakeholders.

Key Features:

Low-fidelity and high-fidelity in one tool

Create a quick prototype in minutes

Multiple iterations; easily switch gears midway through a project

Cost:

1 User – $99 per year

Volume discounts apply for 5 users and up

20. Serena Prototype ComposerQuickly and accurately simulate an application’s functionality and usability-without writing a single line of code. Prototype Composer is part of the Serena Software group of products, making it simple to collaborate with high-fidelity prototypes.

Key Features:

Simple, high-fidelity prototypes

Streamlines, straightforward interface

Navigation models with varying touch points bases on user type

Work straight to the coding process prototype with Serena Software products

Cost:

Community Edition – Free – ONE sample project and ONE user-define project

Professional Edition – $299 per year

21. BalsamigBalsamig lets you add and edit UI wireframes directly from Google Drive. Iterate in real-time with your stake holders to move from design to development more quickly. Founded in 2008, Balsamig is a small company aiming to make software simpler.

Mockingbird is a collaborative wireframing tool that lets you share mockups of your site or application quickly and easily. Mockingbird is among the first web-based wireframing tools, and the company strives to make it the “easiest and friendliest wireframing tool out there.”

Key Features:

Real-time collaboration

Drag and drop linking for clickable multi-page wireframes

Exports to PDF or PNG

Support for grids and columns (including 960gs and Blueprint)

Lots of layout aids, like smart alignment, snap-to-grid, and automatic resizing to take the pain out of wireframing

23. HotGloo
With HotGloo, your web projects finally come to life in the most important stage, the wireframe/prototype process. Since HotGloo is an online application , you can even co-work with team members in real-time or send preview links to clients for gathering feedback and apply changes quickly without touching a line of code.

InVision makes quick, yet impressive prototyping possible for a higher level of design. Built by designer, for designers, InVision offers tools for easily sharing single mockup or demo, or complex mobile application, with a variety of tools and sharing options for a seamless communication with key stakeholders.

Key Features:

Quicly link UX sketches, designs and wireframes

Present projects as a demo, load in a browser or SMS directly to a mobile device

25. UXPinUXPin’s experienced designers offer a complete tool kit of useful design elements and patterns for ease of use- even if you are not a skilled UX designer. Necessary templates for uploading UX and project files, such as Project Canvas, Project Kick Off, Business Model Canvas, Personas, and many more are all included in a seamless collaboration application.

Proto.io allows designers to create mobile app screens, apply screen transitions and define touch events for each design element on the screen. The company was built by a team of designers who struggled with the prototype process – and decided to make a tool that streamlines the process.

27. Savah AppSavah App streamlines the app design process through their wireframing tool used to build high-fidelity prototypes without any coding knowledge and within a matter of minutes. The realtime collaboration features allows multiple team members to provide design feedback at the same time.

Collaborate through live feedback and transformation of comments into threaded discussions

Integration with third parties such as Trello or Slack

Cost:

Free Forever – one project

Starter – $9 per month, five projects

Pro – $25 per month, unlimited projects

Team – $49 per month, unlimited projects, five team members

Agency – $89 per months, unlimited projects, twelve team members

28. Web Site Wireframe ToolThis is a web-based tool for building web site wireframes in minutes. Completed wireframes are easily shared with collaborators via a simple link. A variety of drag-and-drop elements, tools and features make it simple to produce quick mockups for client feedback.

Justinmind creates products to build high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes for web and mobile apps. It creates, visualizes, and tests an HTML version of any application or dynamic website for optimized usability and functionality.

Draw your wireframes and create a perfect simulation with a single application

Simulate state changes with conditional logic

Manipulate data, filter, and search within your prototype

Real-time data for forms

Cost:

Annual – $19 per user/month

Month-to-Month – $29 per user/month

Bottomline, developers love tools that make their jobs simpler. Once you find a tool that makes your life easier, you’re committed for life. Join our growing DevOps community at DevOps Central to participate in discussions and get access to dozens of tutorials like the how tos for modern software frameworks.

3 Responses

Hi BRizika, nice list. There’s also another great prototyping tool! If you need a smarter faster way to create hi and lo fidelity mobile prototyping apps using just a drag and drop tool and try it on your own mobile check out https://www.fluidui.com/editor/live/ Hope this helps! 🙂